Roller-skate.



1., E.- WEAVER.

ROL'LER SKATE.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 22,1913.

7 1 188377. PfitentedJune 20, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- 0 a WI I IIVVENTOR I JAMES EWzEflVL'iE ATTORNEY J. E.WEAVER.

ROLLER SKATE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22, I913. 1 ,1 88,377. Pat-entdJune 20, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- WITNESSES: .1

' To all whom it may concern.

UNITED STATES PAT NT" oFFroE.

JAMES E. WEAVER, OF ELIZABETHTOWN, lN'EWYYORK.

ROLLER-SKATE.

I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J n 20, 1916 Applicationfiled April 22, 1913. Serial N 0. 762,9(12.

Be it known that I, JAMES E. WEAVER, a citizen of the United States, andformerly a resident of Demarest, in the county of Bergen and State ofNew Jersey, but now a resident of Elizabethtown, inthe county of Essexand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Roller-Skates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to roller skates, and has for its object to soconstruct a skate of this kind that it may be readily convertible from askate having two pairs of rollers arranged in the customary way, into askate having two or three rollers arranged in tandem fashion, or into askate having five rollers, four of them arranged in the usual way,

and the fifth centrally between them. Other arrangements of the rollersare also possible with my improved convertible skate.

This'skate is adapted for .ordinary skating (using the four rollers inthat case), or for speed-skating (when a central roller is employed,preferably larger than the other rollers.)

The invention also comprisesmeans for relieving jars, and a brakearrangement which will be particularly useful when coastmg.

An example of the numerous ways in which my invention. may be carriedout will now be described in detail. with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, and the novel features will then be pointed out in theappended claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved roller skate, with fourrollers inposition; Fig. 2 is a bottom view thereof;

Fig. 3' is a bottom view with three rollers arranged 1n tandem fashlon;Fig. 4 1s a corresponding side elevation; Fig. 5 is a bottom view of theskate with five rollers in position thereon; Figs. 6, 7 and 8-are crosssections on the lines 6-6, 7 7, and 88 re spectively of Figs. 2 and 4;Fig. 9 is a rear elevation of the skate in the condition illustrated byFigs. 1 and 5; Fig. 10 is a cross seetionon' the line 1010 of Fig. 5;and Fig. 11 is a partial longitudinal section on llne 1111 of Fig. 2. Inseveral of these views,

' particularly in the sectional figures, certain parts have been omittedso structure more clearly.

as to show. the

The body or frame, of the improved skate comprises afrontplate A and, arear plate or heel plate B, the latter being provided with any usual orapproved projections a to which are secured the leatherb and straps cfor fastening the skate at the heel,- but any other heel-fastening maybe employed. The front plate A is shown provided with the usual rivets don which the slotted soleclamps C aremounted to slide, said clampshaving screw-threaded openings through which extends the screw D, heldagainst lengthwise movement by the engagement of.

its reduced portion e witha fork E secured to the front plate A. One endof the screw D is shown angular for the reception of a suitable key (notshown). The sole-clamp arrangement shown is of a Well-known' character,but any other suitable construc also bent down as at h, the forwardportion 2' of said plate being adapted to fit below the portion 9 of thefront plate A. An opening j is provided in the vertical portion h of therear plate, to allow the rear portion or tongue 9 of the front plate Ato slide therethrough when the skate is fully shortened,

as for convenience in shipping. 'At its side edges, the forward portion'5 of the rear plate B is formed with upwardly extending flanges is,preferably flaring toward their upper edges, on which .the forwardportion orbody of the front plate A is adapted to slide. portion fextends between the flanges Ira-as does also the rear portion'or tongue9, the latter sliding on the forward portion i of the rear plate B.- Themember or tongue 2' of the rear plate B is slotted lengthwise as at Z toreceive a bolt F secured to the tongue 9 of the front plate A, this bolthaving a nut m for' fastening the plates A and B together in anyposition towhioh they may have been adjusted. The flanges k withthe'tongue or forward portion i. of the rear The downwardly bent plate B,form a trough-like structure which stitfens and strengthens the skatematerially. The tongue 9 of the forward plate A is also slottedlengthwise, as at 0, for a purpose stated hereinafter, the two slots Zand o beingin registry with each other.

Near the forward end of the front plate A is secured a bracket G, thevertical end members of which receive a pivot pin H forming a fulcrumfor carrying arms J extending rearwardly and supporting'an axle K onwhich the two front rollers L are mounted to turn. The axleisscrew-threaded in its entire length, and is held in position'on saidarms J in the following manner: The arms J are made with approximatelycircular openings 1) from which slots 9, open at the bottom, extenddownwardly. These slots are of suflicient width to allow the axle to beinserted upwardly or withdrawn downwardlyJ On the inside of the armsfJ.nuts M are screwed on the axle K, each of said nuts having a cylindricalrojection r whi'chfits into the adjacent openings p, and'projects'therethrough to the outside of the arm J. On the portion of theprojection 2' which is outside the arm axle K, said cone having a racefor the balls Q also engaging a race in the roller L. A.

similar race at the outer portion of the roller engages balls R incontactwith a cone S screwing on the axle K. Then follows anotherdust-plate T, a small washer F, and a nut V screwed on the axle K.

The parts M. N, U, and Y have l been omitted from Fig. l in order tos%1ow more clearly. the opening p and the s ot g provided in the arm J.-

The carrying arms J are formed integral with a cross piece 8 to which issecured a bar W projecting outwardly over the inturned'flange s zof aU-shaped plate X secured to the front plate A. Between the bar W and theplate X is placed a cushion '20 of rubber or other suitable elasticmaterial. Thus the arms carrying the front rollers. L are capable of a.slight up and down movement on the pivot H, the cushion u relievingjars.

at somewhat. similar construction is employed tor -supporting the rearrollers L. They are mounted to turn on an axle K screw-threaded in itsentire length and carrying nuts, cones, washers, etc. in the same manneras described with reference to the .front axle K as willy be understoodfrom located at the forward end of the armsel'. To

the cross member 3 connecting the rear ends 7 of the arms 3 15 secured abar A the ends (if-which project overthe inturned flanges t of aU-shaped plate K secured tothe rear plate 1%. The cushioning efl ect'isobtained in this case by means ot a spring Y (3 its forward end securedto the .bers of the plate X. lever Z clears the spring Y and allows theThe pivot H is 'bar V and tends to force itagainst the flanges z". A camlever Z is pivoted to the rear plate B at zto swing about a verticalaxis located forward of the plate X. The

rear end of this lever extends between said plate X and the spring Y isprovided with a handle 20 within easy reach of the person using theskate, The lever Z can thus swing from side to side between the verticalmem- In one position, the

bar l and arms J to move upward relatively to the plate B (or rather,the plate B to move downward in relation to the rear ends of the armsJ), thereby bringing the rear rollers L in contact with brake shoes a(of-wood, leather or other suitable material) carried by the plate X. Inits other,

position. the lever Z engages the spring Y- and locks, the arms J to therear plate B by pressing the bar Y firmly against the flanges t, so thatthe brake shoes .1. cannot engage the rollers L. Preferably the lever Zis self-locking in either'of its positions, which may be accomplished bymaking the lever elastic, with a tendency to spring up -ner set forthhereinafter.

The rear portion g of the front plate A. is adapted to slide rearwardunder the forward end of the spring Y and above the pivot H, between thevertical members of the bracket G. r

So far as described above. the skate is a roller skate having fourrollers, a front pair and a rear pair. In ordinary use, the

lever Z will stand so as to engage the spring .Yand lock the' arms J? tothe rear plate. thus putting the brakes ar out of'action. When coasting,the lever Z is preferably in the other position, that is to say, it willbe swung clear of the spring if; the latter will still; normally keepthe brake shoes out of engagement with the rollers 3L; but when the userdesires to bring the brakes into action. he can dose by simply puttinghis weight on his heel. thus causing the arms J to swing on their pivotH and I bringing the brake shoes against the rear rollers L.- tloasting'with the improve-ii. skate thus becomes quite sate. since the speed maybe readily checked at any inomerit,

The skate can be converted very quickly into a skate having only tworollers arranged in tandem fashion, in the longitudinal center of theskate. For this purpose, the elastic holding sleeves a are slipped ofllaterally from the central portions 'of the axles K, K, and then thenuts M, M are turned so as to travel toward the center, until saidnutsare clear of the arms'J, J. The axles with the rollers thereon canthen be removed through the open lower ends of the slots g. One of therollers of each pair is then removed .from its axle, and the otherroller is shifted to the central portion of the axle the nuts M, M arereversed, so that the washers N, N will be on the inside of the armsJ,J, see Figs. 3 and 4. Of course, the dimensions of the rollers and oftheir fittings, and the distance between the arms J or J are soproportioned that the roller will fit properly between the arms J or Jwhen transferred to the central portion of the axle as described above.No parts need be placed on the axle exteriorly of the nuts M or M whenthe roller is placed in the center; still, for the sake of greatersafety, the washers'U,'U and the nuts V, V maybe placed on the axle endsin this case also. While the same axle K or K may be employed forcarrying either one roller,

between the arms J or "J or tworollers ext-eriorly of said arms, asdescribed, an axle of exactly the same character, but ofsmaller length,may be substituted when the roller is to be arranged centrally, asindicated in Fig. 8, with respect to the rear axle.

While I have not illustrated in the draw-' ing a skate having only onecentral front roller and one central rear roller, this con- .structionwill be evident from Figs. 3 and 4,

if we assume that we remove from these views, the roller shown betweenthe front roller and the rear roller; that is to say, with only tworollers arranged in tandem fashion, the central portion of the skatewould look like that of Figs. 1 and 2, and

the endportions like those of Figs. 3 and 4."

It will be obvious that a three-roller arrangement might be obtained byemploying a pair of front rollers L or a pair of rear rollers L (as inFigs. 1 and 2) in conjunction with a single rear roller L or a smglefront roller L respectively (as in- Figs. 3

will probably never be used, and as, moreover, they will be readilyunderstood, I have not shown them in the drawings.

By the addition of a supplemental roller between the front axle K andthe rear axle K, I obtain either a skate having 'three rollers arrangedin tandem fashion, as shown-- in" Figs. 3 and 4, or a skate having fiverollers, viz,,: a pair of front rollers, a pair of rear rollers, ,and anintermediate central roller, as represented 1n Fig. 5.-- This supbracketor support 22 adapted to be secured detachably to the body of the skate.For this purpose, the support 22 is provided with two bolts 23 and nuts24 to correspond, said bolts being adapted to pass through the slots land 0 of the rear plate B and of the front plate A respectivelv. so thatthe support 22 may be adjusted lengthwise of the skate, within certainlimits, and then secured by tightening the nuts 24. The horizontalmember extending across the top of the support 22 is in contact with theforward portion 2' of the rear plate B. Tl supplemental roller- 20 ispreferably of Lrger diameter than the rollers Land L, and in any eventit is so arranged that it will project downwardly beyond the planepassing through time as the intermediate roller- 20. The- I skater canalsolift both end rollers off the ground after he has attained-acertainspeed,

and thus run exclusively on the supplemental roller 20. Friction is thusreduced materially, particularly if the said roller is of a relativelylarge diameter, and a very high speed may be attained. A similar effectwill be obtained with five rollers (Fig. 5),

in which case the skater will start offwith Q three rollers (thesupplemental roller and either the front pair L or the rear pair L)resting on the ground, and after a acquiring a certain speed, he canbalance himself exclusively onthe supplemental roller 20.' A

particularly skilful skater might even remove both front rollers andboth rear rollers so as to-travel on thesupplemental roller as thesingle roller of the skate.

. Various modifications maybe madewithout departing from the nature ofmy invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention: v 1. A roller skate having front and rearrollers and an intermediate roller adjustable lengthwise of the skate.

2. A roller skate having'front and rear rollers and an intermediateroller and pro.-

vided with means. for adjusting the distance of said intermediate rollerfrom said front and rear rollers. a

3. A roller skate having front and rear rollers, means whereby thedistance betweenthe front and rear'rollers may be adjusted,

and an intermediate roller adjustable toward and from said front andrear rollers.

4. A roller skate comprising a .frame,.

85 the-bottom lines of the rollers L and L, as

front 'and'rear rollers whose axes are movable up and down relatively tosa1d-frame, and an intermediate-roller whose axis 1s at a constantdistance from the bottom of theframe the lower edge of the intermediateroller extending beyond the plane whichpasses through the bottomlines ofthe other rollers. w

5. A roller skate comprislng a frame,

yielding rear and front carriers movable up and down relatively to sa1dframe, an intermediatecarrier held against vertical movementrelativelyto the frame,- and rollers mounted on said darriers the intermediateroller having its lower edge extending'beyond the plane which passesthrough the bottom lines of the other rollers.

6. A rollerskate comprising a frame, av

carrier movable up and down relati ely to sa1d frame, a roller mountedon said carrler,

and a lever for looking or releasing said car- 7 rier relatively to theframe. I

7. A roller skate comprising a frame, a

carrier movable up and down relatively to said frame, a roller mountedonsaid carrier, a brakearranged to be apphed by the movement of thecarrier relatlvely to the frame,

and means for locking the carrier to the frame. a v

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof the subscrib-

